A NASCAR team thrives on its employees – so when they make a blunder, it affects the entire organization. Joe Gibbs Racing is owned by star-studded football coach Joe Gibbs, who has hired the best talents of the garage, one of whom has been Chris Gabehart. The former Director of Competition has left a trail of success in the Cup Series team. Recently, however, a trail of misconduct led to Gibbs filing a lawsuit against him.

The premises of the JGR lawsuit

At the end of 2025, JGR rolled out a surprising piece of news. Chris Gabehart inexplicably left at the beginning of December. This came after Gabehart did not continue as crew chief for Denny Hamlin, with whom he won 22 race trophies, at the end of the 2024 season. Since his departure, no clue has sprung up about why Gabehart left and what his future would be.

On Thursday, however, a shocking revelation came to light – JGR filed a 30-page lawsuit against Gabehart. And the accusation was serious, as Gabehart allegedly engaged in a “brazen scheme to steal JGR’s most sensitive information and use it for the benefit of a direct competitor in NASCAR.”

The context of this lawsuit was in Chris Gabehart’s demand throughout the 2025 season to get complete responsibility and control over all competition departments. He asked Joe Gibbs on November 6th for “carte blanche authority over all racing decisions.” Upon denial, Gabehart said he wanted to leave, and JGR started preparing a separation agreement to ensure his transition to another team. But it soon learned that Gabehart was already in cahoots with a rival team, Spire Motorsports.

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The JGR lawsuit claims that Spire offered Gabehart a role on November 13th, and Gabehart met with team co-owner Jeff Dickerson on December 2nd. But the plot thickened with a forensic review of Gabehart’s computer and phone.

“Gabehart maintained confidential and proprietary files on his company-issued laptop. He allegedly created or maintained a hidden or non-obvious folder/directory on the device. The company claims this folder contained sensitive team data that should not have been retained after his departure. JGR asserts this material constituted trade secrets and protected competitive information,” the lawsuit said.

Accessing this information, which was protected under federal and state trade secret laws, amounts to a violation of legal and contractual obligations. Hence, the JGR lawsuit alleged Gabehart caused more than $8 million in damages. According to Bob Pockrass, the “$1 million a year plus bonuses” that Gabehart was making was also included in Joe Gibbs‘ lawsuit.

The final nail to the coffin was JGR learning about Chris Gabehart’s new role. “On February 11, 2026, JGR learned, for the first time, that Defendant plans to take the position of Chief Motorsports Officer at Spire. In that position, he would be responsible for all of Spire’s racing strategy and operations.” What’s more, Gabehart also began recruiting JGR employees to join him at Spire. According to the JGR lawsuit, at least one JGR employee left and is now at Spire.

This string of unfortunate events will be judged at the Western District of North Carolina. The same court heard last December’s antitrust suit between 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR.

In this grim backdrop, the team will focus on the race weekend.

The brighter prospect ahead

Chris Gabehart’s estrangement may be a big blow for the team. Nevertheless, JGR will have a big fighting chance in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Motor Speedway. It owns 12 Cup Series trophies in Atlanta, including Christopher Bell’s victory last year. Other JGR drivers who have aced in Atlanta are Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Bobby Labonte, and Tony Stewart.

Denny Hamlin won once in 31 Cup starts at the 1.54-mile track, back in 2012. Since Atlanta’s reconfiguration, Hamlin’s best finishes were a pair of 6th-place results, including last February. His new teammates, Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe, will need to work hard. Gibbs owns a pair of top-ten finishes at EchoPark. Briscoe has a best finish of 9th in a 2020 O’Reilly Auto Parts race.

These stats may line up for a fascinating showdown at EchoPark Motor Speedway. Even as the sad JGR lawsuit unfolds, the team’s drivers will hopefully be focused on the track. Let’s see how things unfold in court.